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Failure to evangelise keeps people away from Church – Longley

Divisions among Christians and a failure to evangelise are leading to insufficient witness by the Church in the Midlands, the Archbishop of Birmingham, Bernard Longley has said.

Archbishop Longley said that the world outside the Church was not “hostile” to the Christian message, but that “our own attempts to express or share our faith fail to move people sufficiently, especially when they see our divisions.”

Speaking at Coventry’s Anglican Cathedral on Sunday evening to mark Christian Unity week, the Archbishop said: “As a demonstration of our Christian faith we need above all to find ever fresh ways to show the love of God for the world and this city that he made and cherishes.”

Archbishop Longley suggested the Church should do more to reach out to non-religious people who are nevertheless receptive to the message of the Gospels.

“With our shared faith and a renewed focus we need to look at the world – and at this City of Coventry – not chiefly as an enemy that is indifferent or even hostile to the message of the Gospel but as the place where God’s salvation has already reached into people’s lives through the love of his Son Jesus Christ.”